As the government is becoming increasingly concerned about a rise in COVID-19 cases across the country, there are growing doubts about the start of a nationwide travel subsidy program in early July as initially planned.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is likely to wait until after Sunday’s Upper House election before deciding whether to launch a new tourism promotion campaign, government sources said Tuesday.
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Amusement Wanko Soba Kurukuru Wanko wants you to eat over a hundred bowls of noodles in one sitting.
While noodle dishes like soba and ramen tend to get a lot of love from overseas tourists, there’s a special dish called wanko soba that’s equally deserving of love and attention.
This famous specialty hails from Iwate Prefecture, and though it consists of soba, the way it’s eaten is incredibly unusual — instead of being slurped up all at once in one bowl, the soba is served in small portions across a number of bowls in quick succession, like an all-you-can-eat challenge.
Usually you have to travel to Iwate to enjoy wanko soba, but now you can get a taste of it right here in Tokyo, at a new restaurant called Amusement Wanko Soba Kurukuru Wanko. Although traditionally the dishes are served by staff at your table, here in Tokyo they’ve put a new spin on things, quite literally, by setting the bowls on a revolving conveyor belt, so diners can serve themselves.
▼ The entrance to Amusement Wanko Soba Kurukuru Wanko.
As the first-ever wanko soba conveyor belt restaurant in Japan, this place has been making news on T.V. and online since it opened on 25 June in Tokyo’s Kabukicho. Seeing as our reporter P.K. Sanjun has a wealth of expertise in sushi conveyor belt restaurants, or kaitenzushi as they’re known in Japan, he was the ideal person to assess this new way of eating wanko soba, so he stopped by for a visit.
The standard meal costs 3,300 yen (US$24.38) for 40 minutes, which includes as much soba as you can eat, along with green onions, wasabi and ginger, while other condiments like seaweed and grated radish are priced at 100 yen each.
It’s not just the revolving conveyor belt that makes this place unusual — P.K. discovered it was a standing-style restaurant, with no chairs inside.
While he thought this was unusual at first, he quickly realised this standing style, facing the conveyor belt was actually more practical for shovelling noodles down his throat. Consuming as many bowls of noodles as you can is part of the fun of wanko soba, and P.K. was aiming to clear at least 100 during his allotted time.
▼ This is the set P.K. was given, with the option to add broth in the larger bowl, and mix noodles, broth and condiments in the smaller bowl, if desired.
As P.K. grabbed bowls of noodles from the conveyor belt, he felt a little more confident in his ability to reach his goal — in just one minute he was able to polish off over 10 bowls!
Thankfully, the small portions make this a fun and manageable challenge, and the empty bowls soon began piling up, with around 30 on his table after five minutes.
▼ At this rate, P.K. figured he should be able to clear 240 bowls in 40 minutes.
As for the taste, there was nothing fancy here — P.K. simply described it as “soba”. However, flavour isn’t integral to the Wanko Soba experience — it’s all about speed and consumption, and after 17 minutes, P.K. had achieved his goal for the day, with 100 empty bowls on the counter.
Whenever he felt tired, P.K. refreshed his palate with some condiments, which had a great effect on cleansing his taste buds in between bowlfuls of noodles. By the time he’d finished 100 bowls, though, P.K. began to feel full, and while he might’ve pushed through if he were a younger lad, he decided to bow out after the century, so he could enjoy his achievement without any uncomfortable bloating.
▼ P.K. also had a confession to make — he may have grabbed some of these smaller noodle bowls to help him get to 100.
It was actually pretty handy to have some smaller servings rolling by, to help diners achieve their bowl goals without overdoing things. That made P.K. wonder where his 100 bowls sat in the grand scheme of things, and after enquiring with staff, they told him that women tend to eat around 60-80 bowls on average, while men generally consume about twice that.
▼ As for the highest record, in the two days since opening it was 317 bowls, set by a female diner.
All diners get to take a commemorative photo at a special spot set up near the entrance, and P.K. relished in his wanko soba achievements with a rockstar pose.
It’s a fun way to enjoy wanko soba in the heart of Tokyo, and P.K. definitely recommends adding it to your list of must-visit restaurants, along with prison-themed restaurant The Lockup, which will sadly close its doors on 31 July.
Chinese Vice Premier Liu He has voiced concern about American tariffs on Chinese goods in an online meeting with US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.
The talks came as the United Sates is considering cuts to some of them as a way to curb high inflation.
China’s Commerce Ministry said on Tuesday Liu showed keen interest in additional levies and sanctions on products imported from China being lifted.
The US Treasury Department said the talks covered issues including the global economic outlook amid rising commodity prices and food security challenges.
Under President Joe Biden, Washington has continued to apply additional tariffs of up to 25 percent on Chinese goods that the Trump administration imposed in 2018.
HIGHLAND PARK, Illinois – Six people were killed and at least two dozen injured when a rooftop gunman opened fire at a Fourth of July parade in the wealthy Chicago suburb of Highland Park on Monday, turning a civic display of patriotism into a scene of panicked mayhem.
Officials told a news conference that six people were killed and 24 taken to hospital, and that a rifle was recovered from the scene. A hospital spokesperson reported 31 people were injured.
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Tokyo confirmed 2,772 new COVID-19 cases Monday, up by 1,255 from a week earlier and posting a week-on-week increase for the 17th straight day.
One new death linked to the virus was reported in the capital.
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Hong Kong’s new Chief Executive John Lee said there is no immediate need for a universal compulsory COVID-19 testing campaign in the city but stressed that there needs to be a reduction in the number of daily infections, which are at the highest level since April.
Lee, appearing on a program broadcast by TVB on Sunday, shed more light on his COVID-19 agenda for the first time since being sworn in as chief executive on Friday by Chinese President Xi Jinping, who was also in the city to celebrate the 25th anniversary of its return to Chinese rule.
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NARVA, Estonia – Like many of the ethnic Russians who live along Estonia’s eastern border with Russia, Stanislava Larchenko could not believe that President Vladimir Putin had gone on a killing spree in Ukraine.
Larchenko, 51, got angry with her son when he said in February after Putin invaded Ukraine that Russian soldiers were killing civilians. She insisted the carnage was the work of Ukrainians dressed in Russian uniforms, a trope of the state television beamed in from Russia that she watched.
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UNESCO has listed the Ukrainian culture of cooking borscht, a beetroot-based soup, as an intangible cultural heritage in need of urgent safeguarding.
Officials said on Friday that the dish is under threat due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. They fast-tracked the application process, which was initially scheduled for next year.
Borscht is cooked in all regions of Ukraine, but it is also consumed in Russia and other former Soviet states.
UNESCO says the listing does not imply exclusivity nor ownership of the heritage.
The operator of the au mobile brand, one of Japan’s top three carriers, said Saturday its customers are facing difficulties making calls and connecting to the internet as a result of nationwide network troubles.
KDDI Corp., with some 60 million au customer contracts, said work to restore services is still underway after the disruption started at around 1:35 a.m. The troubles have not only rippled to its and other firms’ low-cost mobile services, but have also affected transmission of key data such as weather information.
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New Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. says he wants to modernize his country’s air force and surveillance capabilities to deal with territorial disputes.
He made the remarks on Friday at Clark Air Base on Luzon Island after being inaugurated the day before.
Marcos said his administration envisions “a stronger, bigger, and effective Air Force capable of defending and maintaining our sovereign state.”
The Philippines and China have territorial disputes in the South China Sea. After being elected in May, Marcos pledged to take a firm stance.
He also said he would not allow his country’s maritime rights to be “trampled upon.”
